Saudi Arabia: Riyadh third in global military spending

Saudi Arabia has retained its position as the third largest defence spender in the world, according to the latest Military Balance report issued by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in mid-February. Saudi Arabia’s defence spending amounted to $83bn in 2018, according to IISS estimates. That put it behind the United States ($643bn) and China ($168bn), but ahead of Russia ($63bn), India ($58bn) and the UK ($56bn). The only other Gulf country to be included among the 15 largest defence spenders is Iraq, which had an estimated military budget of almost $20bn last year.